COLUMBUS

By: Joaquin Miller

Behind him lay the great Azores,
Behind the Gates of Hercules:
Before him not the ghost of shores,
Before him only shoreless seas.

The good mate said, “Now must we pray,
For Lo! The very stars are gone.
Brave Adm’r’l, speak; what shall I say?”
“Why, say: ‘Sail on! Sail on! And on!’”

Then, pale and worn, he kept his deck,
And peered through darkness. Ah!, that night
Of all dark nights! And then a speck----
A light! A light! A light! A light!

It grew, a starlit flag unfurled!
It grew to be Time’s burst of dawn.
He gained a world; he gave a world
It’s grandest lesson: “On! SAIL ON!”